Extended Play

Big Bang Boom, the kids music project piloted by Chuck Folds and Steve Williard, is debuting its nine-song CD. Visit chuckfolds.com to download the music or wait a couple weeks to place an order for a hard copy on the website.

Mannheim Steamroller play Greensboro’s War Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday. If you love them, you know them; if you don’t, you probably don’t want to: Chip Davis and company’s sound epitomizes commercialism with a neat synthesis of classic rock and muzak.

Stankface, Asheville’s funk-hip hop fusionists, pairs up with Dirty5Thirty, an organic, hip-hop outfit from Chapel Ill, at the Blind Tiger in Greensboro on Thursday.

Greene Street is sold out on Thursday for Yellowcard.

Fugitive Kind, a straight-ahead garage-rock band from Boston, turns up at Elliott’s Revue on Thursday, while the following night Whitman, an indie-rock band from the bluest heart of Texas – Austin, that is – play the cramped Trade Street listening room in Winston-Salem.

And on Friday, Mad Tea Party, Lowry and Holy Ghost Tent Revival – warped bon vivants, all – play the Garage, just a hop and a skip from Elliott’s Revue.

Over in the Gate City on Friday, Morose Ghost (Greensboro experimental pop) and the Cardinal Heart (Asheville indie rock) take out a new patent at Solaris.

Jonas Sees in Color plays the early show on Friday at Greene Street, while Ailyne, Hey Euphony, All in a Year and Aching to Be handle closing-time duties.

Neptune headlines the Werehouse in Winston-Salem on Saturday. The Boston band “initially began as a sculpture project,” according to its publicity sheet, and its current incarnation is described as a “concoction of busted garage and incorrect math. All instruments used are made from bike parts, saws, old metal chairs, springs, light switches, gas pipe, oil drums and other debris.” Clang Quartet, AKA the Triad’s Scotty Irving, explores similar sonic territory, and since this is the South, you won’t be shocked to learn that the project is billed as “a percussive interpretation on following Jesus Christ.” Scotty’s mentors in Throbbing Gristle and AC/DC must be scandalized. Rounding out the bill is Invisible featuring – last I checked – Jodi Staley on IBM Selectric typewriter, Mark Dixon on vocals, Bart Trotman on drums, Jonathan Henderson on bass and Dan Kaufman on keyboards.

The Manics – sorry, no biographical information available – are at Elliott’s Revue on Saturday, while Bombadil and Paleface do the honors at the Garage.

Kat de Luna, the Bronx-born R&B singer of Dominican heritage, Latinizes the N Club in downtown Greensboro on Saturday, while the Tremors, Southpaw and Kelly & the Cowboys practice more primitive arts at nearby Solaris. Over in Greensboro’s Whiskey District, Thacker Dairy Road – with singer Andrea Thorne filling the shoes of Molly McGinn, who’s pursuing a solo career – share the stage with the rising Radials. And out West Market Street, but not quite to the airport, Powers Co. has the gig at Cooper’s Ale House.

Carolina Clearwater shows up at the Blind Tiger on Monday, March 24.

On March 25, JB Beverley & the Wayward Drifters (honky-tonk from Cross Junction, Va.) and Richard Boyd (of Winston-Salem’s bo-stevens) prove a good time can be had on a weeknight at the Garage.